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Mets' Offense Cold on Warm April Night as Durham Tops Syracuse on Friday, 5-0

April 21, 2023 - International League (IL)
Syracuse Mets News Release


Syracuse Mets' Michael Perez at bat
Syracuse Mets' Michael Perez at bat
(Syracuse Mets, Credit: Herm Card)

Syracuse, NY - On the warmest April 21st in the history of Syracuse, New York, the hometown team was ice-cold at the plate. The Syracuse Mets were shut out and had just three hits, while Durham racked up four home runs en route to a 5-0 win on a high-80s night in the Salt City. The Bulls have now won eight out of their last nine games.

The starting pitcher for Durham (11-7) was absolutely brilliant on this warm April night. Elvin Rodriguez completely shut Syracuse (11-8) down, tossing seven scoreless innings while racking up eight strikeouts. The right-hander allowed just two hits and two walks in his masterpiece of an outing. Rodriguez has put up very impressive numbers so far this season for the Durham Bulls, putting up a 1.57 ERA in 23 innings with only four earned runs allowed, 22 strikeouts, and eight walks. Opponents are only hitting .108 against Rodriguez so far in the 2023 campaign.

On the other side, Humberto Mejia tossed a solid start of his own for Syracuse. The right-hander from Panama allowed just two runs on four hits in six innings, walking one batter and striking out five. Mejia has turned in consecutive good outings for the Mets. On Sunday afternoon at Scranton/Wilkes-Barre, he threw five scoreless innings in an eventual Syracuse win.

Durham didn't have a ton of offense on Friday night, but when they did, they made it count. Four of the eight total hits for the Bulls were home runs. Rene Pinto hit a solo home run in the fourth, Niko Hulsizer launched a solo blast in the fifth, followed by another homer from Pinto in the eighth, and a final dinger from Curtis Mead in the eighth as well. A combination of doubles from Ruben Cardenas and Tanner Murray also plated a run in the seventh. To recap, four of Durham's eight hits were home runs, and seven of their eight total hits in the game were extra-base hits.

Trevor Kelly finished off the game for Durham in style, tossing the final two innings in scoreless fashion with just one hit allowed. The right-handed reliever is pitching for his fourth different Triple-A team in the last six seasons. Since 2018, Kelly has pitched for Pawtucket, Gwinnett, Nashville and now Durham.

Syracuse and Durham continue their six-game series with the fifth game on Saturday afternoon. Right-hander Dylan Bundy is slated to start for the Mets against Bulls left-hander Joe LaSorsa. First pitch is scheduled for 1:05 p.m.

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Syracuse Mets' Michael Perez at bat
Syracuse Mets' Michael Perez at bat
(Herm Card)		   



International League Stories from April 21, 2023


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